Many health benefit plan providers and retail pharmacies offer their clients the option of obtaining prescription drugs by mail. Mail order pharmacies ship prescription drugs to a client's home so the client is not required to visit a pharmacy and to fill a prescription in person. For clients with chronic conditions or other health conditions that require maintenance drugs, a mail order prescription program is an attractive benefit because it is more convenient for the clients and typically less expensive than obtaining prescription drugs at a neighborhood pharmacy. Clients have the option of purchasing many widely-prescribed maintenance drugs in a 60-day or even a 90-day supply at a lower cost than a 30-day supply.
Most mail order pharmacies use automated systems and dispensing lines to process and ship a high volume of prescriptions on a daily basis. Each prescription medication is dispensed into a vial or other container labeled with data from an electronic order that identifies the patient, drug (e.g., by NDC), dosage, and quantity. Each medication is dispensed in its own vial and in many instances, multiple vials are combined into a single package and shipped to a single address for a client with one or more chronic conditions requiring multiple medications. The automated dispensing system, therefore, must be capable of determining which vials should be combined into a single package and routing them accordingly.
One technique for processing multi-prescription orders is to group the vials for the order and process them together so that all vials arrive for packaging and shipping as a group. Although “group processing” of vials is a logical approach to processing and packaging vials destined for a single address, it is not an efficient approach. Implementation of “group processing” on an automated dispensing line may require development of sophisticated algorithms for determining a reasonable or adequate route for the vials to travel as well as holding or reordering of other orders to permit the vials for a multi-prescription order to travel on the line as a group. The requirement for holding and reordering of orders increases vial processing time. In addition, processing of the vials in a group may require longer overall travel times for the vials as the vials are routed as a group and required to make unnecessary stops at stations other than the one station that has the appropriate medication for the vial.
A more efficient approach to processing of multi-prescription orders involves processing each vial of medication separately and then sorting and consolidating or regrouping them for packaging and shipping to a single address. Single vial processing is typically more efficient than group vial processing and reduces the overall travel and processing time for each vial. Single vial processing, however, requires the development of methods for tracking the vials during processing and eventually, sorting and consolidating them for packaging and shipping. The sorting/consolidation process typically involves diverting vials of a multi-prescription order to a sorting station where vials are held until all of the vials for an order have arrived. The vials are grouped at the station and then released for packaging.
Automated dispensing lines typically comprise multiple sorting stations and therefore, require functionality to route and divert vials to the appropriate station. The process of routing and diverting vials for sorting and consolidation as well as other reasons can increase vial travel and processing time. One cause for increased processing times is the need for gaps between vials on the line. On automated dispensing lines, vials are diverted or pushed off a conveyor to a station (or off a station to a conveyor) using a mechanical diverting device that engages when a vial that needs to be diverted or routed to a new location passes in front. To reduce the likelihood that the wrong vial is diverted or that the vials in front of or behind the vial to be pushed are not engaged by the diverter device, all vials on the line are singulated and a distance of at least several millimeters is maintained between vials at some points, or possibly all points, on the line. The process of introducing and/or maintaining gaps between vials increases travel and processing time as one or more vials may be held at various points during processing to ensure a gap is maintained.
Processing times for vials on an automated dispensing line are impacted by various routing and diverting techniques that are employed to facilitate single vial processing as well as multi-prescription order processing. There is a need for an improved pharmaceutical vial processing system and method that reduces processing delays attributable to routing and diverting techniques.